1. Field of the Invention
An object of the invention is a mobile telephone comprising a detachable connector located between its body and its battery pack. The field of the invention is mobile telephony. However, this field can be extended to all fields that implement modular electronic devices. Indeed, depending on the electronic modules selected for an application, a connection may or may not be needed between these selected modules. It is therefore worthwhile that the connector should be detachable.
The aim of the invention is to reduce the cost of the body of a mobile telephone. Indeed, at the present time, increasing numbers of functions are being incorporated into battery packs. It is therefore necessary to set up a functional connection between the battery pack and the body of the mobile telephone to which the pack will be fixed. This link is set up through a connector of the body and contacts of the pack.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, there are known mobile telephones comprising battery packs provided with different functions, such as a chip-card reader for example. The functional link between the body of the mobile telephone and the chip-card reader is then set up by means of a connector of the body. The connector of the body, which is constituted by retractable pins for example, presses on the contacts of the battery pack. A connection is then set up satisfactorily because the contacts of the battery press on the pins of the body.
However, this approach is not entirely satisfactory since the cost of fitting in the connector has to be borne by all the users of the body, including those using a battery whose sole function is to supply power to the body.
Indeed, in the prior art, the connector of the body is integrated fixedly, at the outset by the use, in the body, of the parts forming the connector. Since the aim is to achieve an economy of scale, it is useful to have the same mold whatever the options and functions of the telephone to be produced. This is why it is no longer judicious to incorporate a connector on the battery side and contacts on the telephone. Indeed, this method would result in identical mobile telephone bodies, but the connector placed on the battery pack would not be needed every time and would therefore entail excess cost for certain models.
The invention resolves these problems by using a detachable connector placed between the body of the mobile telephone and the battery pack. The connector is then put into place only when needed, namely when a battery comprising ancillary functions is connected to the body of the telephone. The detachable connector is then fixed either to the body of the telephone or to the battery. In a preferred embodiment, it is fixed to the body of the mobile telephone. Thus, whatever the body of the mobile telephone and the battery coupled to it, the physical interface between the body and the battery pack will be identical. The battery pack has contacts designed for the setting up of a connection with the detachable connector, and the body of the telephone has a receptacle for the detachable connector.
An object of the invention therefore is a mobile telephone comprising a body of the mobile telephone and a battery pack, wherein the mobile telephone comprises a detachable connector that conducts a signal between contacts located, firstly, on the body of the mobile telephone and, secondly, on the battery pack.
The invention will be understood more clearly from the following description and the appended figures. These figures are given purely by way of an indication and in no way restrict the scope of the invention. Of these figures:
FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile telephone body and a battery pack according to the invention.
FIG. 2 provides a detailed illustration of a connector according to the invention and its receptacle on the body of the telephone.